Clearing a garden down to dirt?

[-C-]

Whats the best way to do this?

Its been a long time since anyone has lived in our house and the garden has rampantly run wild.

I thought perhaps get it down to near ground level, then literally cover the lot in industrial strength weed/plant killer? If so what should I go for?

Then hire a big tiller machine to turn all the soil & level the lot off?

We are effectively trying to start with a blank canvas but are unsure how to get it to that stage.

[sherman]

Weed killer it all first. Then chop the dead stuff down to the ground and get rid of this by either taking to the local dump in a car or a skip. Weed killer whats left again and then dig it all up with a spade or mini digger depending on size of area. Once you have done this and got it back to soil you will then need to rotovate/till the soil.

Now you can restart planting.

[Simpo Two]

All good, but rotovating will bring up a fresh crop of weed seeds, so it might be better to save the second dose of weedkiller for a week or two afterwards. When I did my lawn the biggest issue was dock, which can regrow from an inch of root. Guess how many one inch lengths a rotovator makes!

[-C-]

Any suggestions on the weedkiller? I want something man enough to do the job properly, but not make the garden a hazard zone!

[dstiles74]

I went from this


to this


via a man with a mini digger, a rotavator and a bit of hard work. I seeded the ground and 4 months later now have a cracking lawn, will add a photo tonight if you want.

[-C-]

Definately!

Well, thats close to what ours looks like underneath, but add appox 8ft of brambles that have been allowed to roam wild for the past 15 years...

They have stems thicker than some tree trunks

[dstiles74]

same here, because the photos were taken earlier this year you can't see all the stingers and brambles, i have been digging roots out all summer but the lawn is getting better and better!

[netherfield]

-C- said:

Any suggestions on the weedkiller? I want something man enough to do the job properly, but not make the garden a hazard zone!

Glyphosate,most commonly called 'Roundup'although other manufacturers use other names.

[sherman]

Try Sodium Chlorate. Anything that has as a beware flammable on it should work well.

[dstiles74]

as promised, here is our lawn as of Sunday.

[treehack]

sherman said:

Try Sodium Chlorate. Anything that has as a beware flammable on it should work well.

Can the general public still buy it?I thought it was fairly well controlled a few years back.Also it stays active in the soil for upto 6 months so nothing else will grow after an application of it

[Jon C]

The logistics may be an issue depending on local conditions, but a pal converted a 200 foot garden from a 10 year weed patch to finely graded fertile soil with almost zero effort in four weeks. Two pigs stripped all the vegetation to a depth of three foot (including roots up to two inch diameter. Then half a dozen chickens graded and levelled the soil. Job done and loads of sustainable bbq fodder to boot!

[sherman]

treehack said:

sherman said:

Try Sodium Chlorate. Anything that has as a beware flammable on it should work well.

Can the general public still buy it?I thought it was fairly well controlled a few years back.Also it stays active in the soil for upto 6 months so nothing else will grow after an application of it

Would appear so.

http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=sodium+chlorate...fficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=PkZJStHIBsSLjAeI2uBi&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=603083169

Dont know why theres a smiliey in the web address.

Edited by sherman on Monday 29th June 23:59

[Scraggles]

petrol still works as well, just do not set light to the borders

[sherman]

Scraggles said:

petrol still works as well, just do not set light to the borders

Petrol on your garden!!!

My god man whats it doing out of your cars petrol tank.

[-C-]

Probably not the best idea, thatched cottage & all that!

I would like it to still be there when i've finished on the garden

Cheers for the pictures, thats probably not far off the total amount we have to clear, was it something you did yourself? Unfortunately a mini digger isn't really an option for us, so its digging and a rotorvator thing. Still, bit of hard work never hurt anyone!

[Scraggles]

got a diesel burner and it does not light very well , but one option for sure

[dstiles74]

I got a man with a mini digger, £100 per day (mates rates!) and it took him nearly 3 days to scrape and bury most of the crap. I then hired a rotavator for a weekend and just went over it again and again. Finally raked and levelled as best I could and then seeded (turfing would have cost £1500 approx!). Whilst raking removed large stones and any weed debris at the surface.

As i said there are a number of weeds but keeping the lawn cut short is helping the grass get control and i have not had to use any chemicals, so far.